Maybe we should petition to add "cartographer's capital" to the long list of Milwaukee monikers, because our city has one of the country's largest collection of maps.
OnMilwaukee's Bobby Tanzilo visited the archive and joined me in the studio to chat about it for this week's Urban Spelunking podcast. Take a look inside and listen to our conversation below.
The American Geographical Society Library occupies the third floor of the Golda Meir Library at UW-Milwaukee. It's open to the public and boasts more than a million items, including maps, photos and travelogues, making it the country's largest collection of maps. It also has over 220 rare and historic globes on display.
Originally kept in New York, the collection came to Milwaukee in the 1970s. It has continued to grow with each passing year, incorporating archived digital assets and new satellite images.
Yet, the oldest parts of the collection rely on a handwritten catalogue system, which AGS staff is currently in the process of modernizing.
Listen to this week’s Urban Spelunking podcast in the player above for the complete story.
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